Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant
by Kasek
Summary: Naruto has decided to take the Chunin Exams again in order to advance his search for Sasuke. But with a new team and new enemies, can he make it? Zelda Naruto crossover.
1. Prelude to an Adventure

**Kasek:** Alrighty, I've FINALLY gotten around my killer writer's block of DOOM, and have come up with this story! I'm trying to make it into an epic saga, but... we'll see. This is a Legend of Zelda & Naruto crossover. As for pairings, right now, I'm thinking of just having a little bit of a few different pairings. I'll try not to have any romance interfere with the story; it will mostly be for humor. Also, I WON'T be holding any 'vote for your fave pairings' events. It's just not how I do things. However, you can still include in your reviews how well (or not so well) I'm pulling then off. Lastly, I'll only use honorifics when they're being respectful (-sensei, -san, -sama, etc.), as I stink with placing -chan and -kun. Now, enjoy!

Summary: Naruto has decided to take the Chunin Exams again in order to advance his search for Sasuke. But with a new team and new enemies, can he make it? Zelda Naruto crossover.

Disclaimer: I own neither the manga/anime/video game series 'Naruto', nor the video game/manga/comic/cartoon series 'Legend of Zelda', nor any of the affiliated characters

* * *

**Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant**

**Chapter 1: Prelude to an Adventure**

(Note: I started writing this before the Kaku/Hidan battle, so don't sue me for having a different outcome for the battle.)

Naruto and Sakura sat by Kakashi's bedside, with Yamato in the bed next to Kakashi's. Kakashi had been hospitalized (again) after completely wiping out his chakra supply (again). Yamato had been injured in the fight with Kakuzu. Sakura was busy changing his bandages. Just for reader comfort, Shikamaru was a few beds down, with Ino and Choji currently visiting him (hey, you try going one-on-one with an Akatsuki member and come out unscathed).

"Honestly, Kakashi-sensei, you need to be more careful. You're not Naruto, you know."

Everyone- except Naruto, of course- chuckled at that.

"Well, you know me- always giving my all for the mission." Sakura sighed.

"At this rate rate, there won't be much left to give. Just get some rest. Sorry to say this guys, but visiting hours are over."

Naruto, who had been strangely silent, got up. "Well, that's just as well. I really need to go get some ramen. I came straight to help you guys after I finished training you know. Just wish I could've used that cool jutsu of mine." He turned to Ino and Choji. "You guys want to come?"

Choji quickly agreed, being quite hungry himself. Ino, however, agreed to go only if Sai was going... which, he was. Obviously, Sakura couldn't go, as she was still on duty. Before they left, Kakashi spoke up.

"Hey, Naruto, do you mind staying behind for a minute? I need to tell you something." Naruto nodded, and waved his friends to go on without him. After they had left, Naruto sat back in his seat next to Kakashi.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, you see, I think that it's about time you took the Chunin Exams again."

Naruto was shocked that his sensei would even _suggest_ such a thing. "B-but, what about Sasuke? I still have to bring him back!" Kakashi sighed and gave him one of his 'looks'.

"Naruto... this exam isn't in Konoha. It would give you a chance to get out of Konoha, and will give you plenty of experience. Also, there's still plenty of time before Orochimaru takes over Sasuke's body. Plus, if you make Chunin rank, the Council might trust you a bit more to protect yourself."

Naruto seemed to mull it over for a minute. "Well, I guess it can't be too bad of an idea... but who would I go with? Sakura's already a Chunin, and I know Sai isn't a Genin... (A/N: Does Naruto know that Sai's ANBU?)"

Kakashi's one eye curved into an upside-down 'U'. "I'm glad you asked, Naruto. There happens to be a Genin team that is perfectly capable of competing, except for one thing: they're only two Genin on it."

Naruto looked suspicious. "And _why_ are there only two Genin on this team?"

Kakashi laughed. "Naruto, why turn down a good opportunity when it presents itself?"

Naruto considered it a moment longer, and decided. "Well, you've never really lead me wrong before... except for that one time with that cat... alright, I'll do it! So, wait, if it's being held outside of Konoha, where's it being held?"

"It's a place you've actually been to recently, Naruto. Sunagakure."

"Suna?!? Why didn't you say so earlier? And here I thought I'd be going off to a strange village I'd never even heard of before..."

"Well, Morigakure had offered to hold the exams, but when Gaara heard that you'd be entering this year, he insisted that Suna hold it..."

Naruto took a moment to register what he had just said; one: The exams had _almost_ been held in a strange village he had never heard of before, and two: that _someone_ had decided ahead of time that he was entering. "Say WHAT?!? You told him ahead of time I was entering? Why?"

"One: Don't be so loud; it's a hospital. Two: We all know that you never say no to a challenge, Naruto." While Naruto grumbled, Kakashi continued. "Anyways, the exams themselves are in two weeks, but you'll be leaving with your new teammates tomorrow. Meet them at the gate at 0700 hours, okay?"

Naruto nodded, and then asked something he had just thought of. "Wait, who're going to be my teammates?"

Kakashi chuckled. "You'll see, Naruto... you'll see..."

Sakura walked up to them. "Naruto, you really have to go now. I could get in trouble if you stay here any longer."

"Alright, alright, I'm gong, I'm going..."

* * *

_The following morning..._

Naruto could see the gate rising well above any of the nearby buildings, though he couldn't quite yet see the bottom of it. His thoughts were on his new team, and he wasn't looking where he was going. While deep in thought (is that even possible for Naruto?), he crashed right into someone. Luckily, they had fallen apart from each other.

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going, and- " Naruto froze, if but for a second. There in front of him lay Hinata, whom he had just knocked over. He held his hand out to her. "Are you okay Hinata?"

Needless to say, she was not. She was currently blushing a deep _Sharingan_ red. She had just touched Naruto! Not only that, he was offering his hand to her! She reluctantly took his hand (trying not to faint), and pulled herself up. After a moment of awkward silence, Naruto spoke up.

"Uh, Hinata... you can let go of my hand, now." She let out a quick 'meep!' as her hand retreated to her side faster than Lee could kick you (which is pretty darn fast).

"N-Naruto... w-what are you d-doing here?"

"Well, I was about to leave the village to attend the Chunin exams in Suna. What are you doing here?"

Hinata's heart skipped a beat. He was leaving? "N-Naruto, how are you able to t-take the exams? D-don't you need a team?" She realized that she knew the answer, but she just didn't want her little heart to accept the fact that he was leaving.

"Well, there was some team that really needed another Genin, so I got placed on that one. Wait, don't change the subject; what are you doing here?"

Hinata decided to tell him the truth. "W-well, my little sister, Hanabi, is going as well, so I was going to wish her luck."

Naruto was shocked, to say the least. "W-wait just a minute... you have a little _sister_?"

"O-oh, you never knew? W-well, she never really left the compound before becoming a Genin, so..."

"Well, if we're going to the same place, come on! I'm going to be late!" He then hurriedly grabbed her arm and dragged her (not literally) towards the gate, with her blushing the entire time, coming pretty close to fainting. After a minute, they finally reached the gate, with several people under it. Naruto recognized most of them: Team 7 (including Kakashi, though he was in a wheelchair being pushed by Sakura), Team 8, Team 10 (including Shikamaru, who had pretty much recovered his chakra, and was walking on crutches), Team Gai, Tsunade, Shizune, and even the Konohamaru Squad, with Ebisu standing near them. Naruto assumed that they would probably be going with him, as they were carrying travel packs. And then, there were three people he did not recognize.

The first, he realized, was probably Hinata's little sister, Hanabi, but in his opinion, she looked more like Neji's. This wasn't helped by the fact that they were standing right next to each other. She was wearing pretty much the same robes as he was, though hers had a longer skirt-thingie (whatever you call them... XD). Her hair was also similar to his, being the same color and length (proportionately), but she wore her headband around her neck, like her sister. She looked to be about 9 years old- a little too young to be a ninja, in Naruto's personal opinion, but he remembered what his sensei had said long ago- that there were shinobi that were younger than them (they had been twelve at the time) who were stronger than him. Naruto personally hoped he never met those kids.

The other Genin looked to be slightly older- Naruto couldn't even tell if they were a he or a she, let alone how old they were, but by height alone, they might've been 10, as they had a few inches on Hanabi. This person wore some kind of blue jumpsuit, with a white cloth on top of that, that had a neckband that covered everything up to their eyes. Even then, one of the eyes was covered by some of their blond hair (like Ino's or that Deidara guy's, Naruto commented in his head). Their head was covered in wrappings, leaving the only part of the entire head that was exposed a single red eye and some tanned skin. They also had wrappings on their arms, their headband over the head wrappings in standard position, and some kind of purple shin guards on their legs. Something Naruto's attention was drawn to however, was the large, red symbol on their shirt; it looked like a magnifying glass with eyelashes. Naruto figured it was some kind of clan symbol. All in all, they looked like some weird combination of Dosu (one of the Sound Genin), Rock Lee, Ino, and Kakashi. This person was currently talking with Kakashi; not surprising, really.

The last one- Naruto assumed this woman to be the Jonin sensei for the two- was rather unique, as well. She had short, silvery-gray hair- not completely unlike Kakashi's- red eyes, the same shade as the mysterious Genin's, and skin that was almost a tanned. She was wearing the typical Jonin uniform, but had the same red eye symbol on the front, and wore the same purple shin guards, so it was easy to assume that the two were probably related. She also had a short sword attached to her waist.

They quickly ran up to the group, and once there, Naruto let go of Hinata's hand (and, as a result, almost dropped her onto the ground). Her blushing slowly subsided as Naruto greeted his friends.

"Hey! Sorry I'm a little late; I ran into Hinata on the way here, and got a little distracted."

Sakura playfully bonked him on the head. "Watch it, Naruto, you're beginning to sound like Kakashi-sensei." As Naruto talked to his friends and teammates, who all wished him good luck, he was approached by Hanabi and the odd Genin. Hanabi spoke first, after giving a little bow.

"Greetings, Naruto-san. My name is Hyuuga Hanabi. I've heard a lot about you from Hinata and Neji-san; I look forward to working with you." Naruto was more than a little surprised at how polite this little girl was being towards him; to be honest, nobody had ever treated him like that in his life. His awkwardness showed on his face. "What is wrong, Naruto-san?"

Naruto started scratching the back of his head. "Oh, sorry, it's just that nobody has ever been that polite to me before, so I was just kind of surprised, that's all. Um, what should I call you?"

"Just Hanabi will be fine, as we're going to be teammates from now on."

"Okay, Hanabi, nice to meet you!" Naruto then turned to the mysterious Genin. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage! Who are you?"

Hanabi almost winced at how informal that had sounded next to her greeting. Hinata was right; he really _wasn't_ used to politeness. The mystery Genin bowed before introducing... er... himself? Herself?

"My name is Sheikah Sheik (those in the immediate vicinity struggled to keep their laughter inside). Nice to meet you, Naruto." Naruto should've guessed; Shiek's voice was _completely_ adrogynous (Naruto had picked up the word after having encountered several ninja who fit the definition). Naruto took a moment to gather up the courage for what he was going to say next.

"Not to sound rude, but... are you a boy or a girl?" Some people sweat-dropped, while others nodded their heads in agreement, having wondered that very same question themselves. Sheik was one of the ones who sweat-dropped.

"Well, should've seen that one coming. I'm a guy."

Naruto was slightly embarrassed that he had even asked the question, but was relieved now that he finally knew Shiek's gender. (A/N: As am I; typing for a character of unknown gender is annoying). Konohamaru quickly came over, followed by Moegi and Udon. "Hey, Boss, you're entering the Chunin exams, too?"

It had finally dawned on Naruto that he might have to fight Konohamaru. After shaking off that train of thought before it lead somewhere, he responded. "Yep, and there's NO way you guys are going to beat us!"

Konohamaru scoffed (something he had picked up after listening in on all of the politicians). "You may be older than us, boss, but all three of us are older than Hanabi and Sheik!" Naruto looked behind him; true enough, the members of the Konohamaru Corps. were older than his teammates, even if it was just by a year or two. It was also then that he noticed that Hanabi had been using him as a human shield.

_Huh, I guess she really is Hinata's sister. _"Konohamaru, when it comes to being a shinobi, age doesn't matter... too much, anyways. So, when are we supposed to leave?"

"Right now." Naruto jumped at the sound of his new sensei's voice coming from right behind him. "O-oh, hello, sensei."

The Jonin smiled at him. "I am Sheikah Impa, Naruto, but you'll be calling me Impa-sensei. Come on, I was being serious, we should leave now."

As the gates opened, Naruto waved goodbye to his friends, and looked forward to his journey with his new teammates.

END CHAPTER **  
**

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**Kasek: **Well, how did you like it? I took some liberties with Sheik and Impa (Such as, I won't be using the Japanese names for all of the Zelda characters, if they even have different names at all, as I just can't find them). I know the name 'Sheikah Sheik' sounds stupid, but he's Sheik of the Sheikah clan, so that's how it came out. I haven't _quite_ decided if Sheik will have an alter-ego or not; we'll see. Also, I know Hanabi turned out differently then most people peg her, but that's just the way I see Hanabi turning out. You'll get to see more of her personality later, though... 

And yes, the shinobi of Morigakure (Village Hidden in the Forest, I believe; tell me if I'm wrong) will play an important role in this fic... cookies to those who can guess who will comprise the Genin team from Mori. Well, on one final note... REVIEW!!! REVIEW AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!!! Okay, maybe not quite like that, but... REVIEW!!!

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Chapter End Bonus 1: After the Battle 

Zetsu looked around the battlefield, noting the different battle scars the area (and local flora) had received. As he wandered, he came across a rather large tree, with a growth that looked strangely like Kakuzu. Zetsu's black half spoke.

"Well, it seems not even his money could save him in the end."

"NOBODY LIVES FOREVER," noted the metallic voice of his white side.

"Well, looks like we won't be able to dispose of him the normal way..." the black half mumbled, as he slipped the ring off of Kakuzu's finger.

"WELL, JUST HAVE THE NEW GUYS DO IT," the white half replied, while taking said ring and tossing it to one of the two figures behind them. The shorter one- a blue haired, blue skinned man with pointed ears- caught it, and immediately placed it on his left middle finger, while the taller one- a red haired, deeply tanned man with an abnormally large nose and a similar ring on his left index finger- stepped forward, grinning darkly.

"Gladly." He walked up to the tree, and pulled his right hand back, and his grin grew wider as it became enveloped in dark flames. He punched the now-dead Kakuzu, and the entire tree shattered, and the splinters became covered in dark flames, before shortly turning into ashes that scattered into the winds.

Zetsu stepped forward, and his black half spoke. "Well then, welcome to Akatsuki." The two undeniably evil men grinned.

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**Kasek: **Ooh... Zelda fans well know these guys right off. If not... shame on you! This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written... And sorry about not updating my other stories; like I said, I've had KILLER writer's block... Well, like I said before, REVIEW!!! 


	2. Village of the Sand

**Kasek:** Well, I guess nobody really searches for Zelda in the Naruto section... well, I'll keep writing this until I'm finished with it! Which won't be for a long time...

As for the pairings report, I think so far I'm going with Konohamaru/Hanabi, and... well, the other characters haven't been introduced yet.

**Disclaimer:** I own neither the manga/anime/video game series 'Naruto', nor the video game/manga/comic/cartoon series 'Legend of Zelda', nor any of the affiliated characters.

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**Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant**

**Chapter 2: Village of the Sand**

It had been a few days since they had left Konoha, and they could almost see the entrance to Suna. Good thing, too, because Konohamaru wouldn't stop complaining about the heat. Naruto wondered if the boy realized that wearing an over-sized scarf in the desert wasn't a very good idea... Heck, wearing an over-sized scarf (which Konohamaru had somehow managed to avoid tripping on) _at all_ wasn't a good idea.

Naruto's mind began wandering back to his much younger teammates. Hanabi didn't seem too different from her sister; Hanabi was very polite, but sometimes Naruto would catch the occasional Hyuuga Look of Disdain ( copyright currently in the possession of Hyuuga Hiashi) on her face, usually whenever Moegi and Udon spoke. However, whenever the Konohamaru Corps. got to close to their team, she would start blushing like crazy; maybe she was just shy in a crowd? Naruto decided he was going to help fix that.

Sheik was a bit of a mystery. He looked like the silent type, yet seemed to enjoy conversations, and also seemed to enjoy Konohamaru's and Naruto's company more than Hanabi's. Naruto couldn't truly blame him; Hanabi was no boy, and was certainly not the type to 'just talk'. Also, Sheik seemed to enjoy playing travelers' games. A LOT. Particularly 'I Spy'. That was another reason Naruto was glad to have gotten to the desert; there was nothing left for the odd boy to play 'I Spy' with out here, unless you counted the sand.

"I spy, with my eye..." Holy... the kid was STILL going at it? "Something... brown."

Naruto glanced back at him and raised an eyebrow. "Brown?"

Sheik nodded. "And covered in shinobi."

Naruto immediately scanned the horizon, and could spot what looked like the beginnings of a cliff in the horizon. Naruto recognized it immediately; it was the entrance to Suna. "Wow, I wouldn't have noticed that. How'd you get so good at spotting stuff?"

Sheik glanced in Naruto's direction with that one eye of his. "By playing 'I Spy', of course."

Naruto would've yelled some kind of insult at him, but decided against it. Right now, Sheik was probably smirking at him, anyways; might as well let him enjoy this one victory. He moved over to Konohamaru, who was still busy whining about the heat to have taken notice of what Sheik had said. "Konohamaru, didn't you hear? We're almost there."

Konohamaru's mood immediately brightened, and he then went into 'I'm going to beat everybody and become a Chunin' mode. After a moment, Naruto got a little annoyed and bonked him on the head. "Konohamaru, how many times to I have to tell you, it's not that easy. There are some people who try all their lives to pass these exams... and some people who's lives end on their first try." The speech seemed to unnerve the Konohamaru Corps. Naruto had neglected to mention that little detail earlier.

After a little bit, they could finally see the actual entrance to Suna, and weren't totally surprised that there was somebody there. However, everyone (minus Naruto) was shocked, to say the least, at _who_ that person was. There, standing at the entrance to Suna, was the Kazekage himself. They were even _more _shocked when Naruto ran up to him.

"Hey, Gaara, how've you been?"

Gaara smiled, which, a long time ago, would've made everybody in the immediate vicinity run for their lives. Now, however, the guards smiled too, thankful that the Gaara of today no longer had that particular quirk about him.

"I've been fine, Naruto, but the papers for these exams are killing me..."

Naruto had a look of mock concern. "Hey, hey, I don't want you dying on me again, Gaara."

"Do not worry, Naruto, I won't be dying again for a long time."

They both laughed (okay, just Naruto), and then Naruto noticed something weird about his friend.

"Hey, Gaara, how come your eyes are... you know..."

Gaara raised his his hand to his face, touching the black circles that still surrounded his eyes. "Ah, well, my body is used to not sleeping, so I just stay awake out of habit. Besides, I fell asleep the first day, and not even Temari could wake me up. I had already been missing for several days and I was asleep for two days, so now, I only fall asleep when there's a lull in incoming paperwork."

Naruto, after recovering from the shock of hearing the longest sentence that he had ever heard from Gaara, nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Yeah, I can only imagine the amount of paperwork that piled up over your little 'vacation'."

By now, everyone was gaping at the scene in front of them. Naruto had just walked up to the _Kazekage_ and started talking to him as if he were an old friend. Listening to their conversation, everyone gathered that they probably were. Gaara turned to them. "So, these are all of the participants Konoha has for the exams? I was expecting more than this."

Naruto turned back to his teammates. "Yeah, as far as I know, this is it. But, with me here, this is all Konoha NEEDS."

Gaara smirked. "I don't doubt it. Do you mind introducing me?"

Naruto turned around and pointed at Hanabi. "Not at all! This is Hyuuga Hanabi," at this point Hanabi bowed, "this is snicker Sheikah Sheik," Sheik was glad that there wasn't even a flicker on the Kazekage's face, and also bowed, "this is Sheikah Impa-sensei," Impa bowed and muttered a 'greetings, Kazekage-sama', "this is the Konohamaru Corps., which consists of Sarutobi Konohamaru, and... hey, Moegi, Udon, do you guys even have family names? Ah whatever... and that's closet perv-sensei!" Ebisu immediately blushed, while Gaara- and every female in the vicinity, particularly the Gaara fan-club, who's members had somehow gone unnoticed until now. Ebisu bowed, and muttered under his breath that he 'wasn't a pervert.'

Naruto turned back to Gaara. "So, what do we do now? We've still got a week until the exams, right?"

Gaara nodded. "There's a hotel that's been reserved for the Chunin exam participants, I'll have someone meet up with you and bring you there. In the meantime, I have to get out of here before the fan-girls cut off all of my escape routes. See you later, and good luck with the exams." And with that, the wind picked up, kicking up the surrounding sand. A moment later, the wind stopped, and Gaara was nowhere to be seen. The fan-girls, disappointed that Gaara had escaped, started back to their respective lookout-posts (searching for Gaara). Naruto turned back to his fellow Genin.

"Well, then, let's go!" Everybody face-vaulted, and Konohamaru was first to get up.

"Uh, Boss... shouldn't we wait here for that someone Kazekage-sama's sending to bring us to the hotel?" (Wait, Konohamaru has manners? Gasp!)

Naruto looked at them weird. "Oh, come on, I'm sure they'll be able to find us. Come on, let's explore!" As Naruto boldly walked into town, everyone just shrugged and followed him.

---

It had been a few minutes, and everybody was bored... and lost. Konohamaru had had enough, and stepped out in front of the group, walking backwards as he talked. "See? What'd I tell ya, Boss? It's only been five minutes, and we're already lost! We should go back to the gate!''

Naruto looked up in Konohamaru's direction and grinned. "Come on, Konohamaru, you oughta have more faith in Suna's shinobi." Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, and then felt himself bump into something (that's what he gets for walking backwards). He turned around and found himself looking into a certain Suna Jonin's face. Naruto's grin grew even wider.

"Hey, Kankuro, it's been a while."

Kankuro looked back and forth between Konohamaru and Naruto. "Huh, deja vu. Anyways, Gaara sent me to get you guys and bring you to the hotel. Come on, follow me."

They all silently followed Kankuro (except Naruto, who was talking to Kankuro) back to the hotel, where they found three rooms reserved for them- one for Ebisu, Konohamaru, and Udon, one for Naruto and Sheik, and the last one for Impa, Hanabi, and Moegi (the boys are split up by team, and the girls have their own room). The Konohamaru Corps. plus Hanabi were more than happy to get to their slightly cooler rooms. Meanwhile, Naruto, Impa, Sheik, Ebisu, and Kankuro stayed in the lobby. Ebisu and Impa, who knows why they stayed, but Naruto wanted to talk to Kankuro some more, and Sheik wanted to see if there were any more competitors around.

"So, Kankuro, how's life been going for Gaara?"

"A lot better than his last one. Although, he wishes he could get rd of the fan-girls without having to kill them..."

They both chuckled, and paused when they heard some yelling.

"Watch where you're going, Smoke-Boy!"

"Me?!? You're the one who bumped into me, Tree-Hugger!"

Apparently, two 10-year old boys (Naruto: _Just how many little kids could they POSSIBLY let into these exams? I don't remember there being ANYBODY younger than us when WE took the exams...) _had just gotten into a fight. Naruto saw there hitai-ate, and while the headband of the green-clothed kid was completely new to him, the one the gray-haired kid was wearing was kind of familiar...

As Kankuro tried to diffuse the situation- mainly by just picking them up by the back of their shirts and hanging them in midair until they calmed down- Naruto decided to analyze these potential rivals (though Naruto seriously doubted they could've been much better than him when he had first entered the exams). The one on the left had blond hair and blue eyes, much like himself, and was only wearing a weird green cap and a simple green tank-top over a pair of green shorts, separated only by his hitai-ate, which was being used as a belt. Naturally, he had a kunai pouch on his leg. Naruto looked at the symbol on the hitai-ate; it looked like some kind of nut that had been cracked half-open. The boy's eyes shined with arrogance and pride- not two traits Naruto particularly liked.

The gray haired boy- whom Naruto realized also had gray eyes- was fairly typical of a ninja. He was wearing a zipped up ash-gray vest over his bare chest, and was wearing black pants. His hair was mostly short except for the bangs, which covered his forehead, and consequentially, his hitai-ate. Naruto stared at it for a minute trying to remember where he had seen such a mark; it looked like some kind of squiggly question mark. After a minute of racking his brain, he remembered what the green-kid had called him; _Smoke-Boy_. A light-bulb turned on in Kyuubi's cell; that's where he had seen it before! Those weird ninja from a few years ago had that same symbol on their hitai-ate! Now what was the name of the village... Moya? No, that was the name of the ninja themselves... ah! Now he remembered! It was Kemuri! Kemurigakure!

Currently, the two boys had been silent for about ten seconds, and Kankuro gently set them down. They immediately dashed off to what Naruto assumed to be their respective rooms. Kankuro walked back to Naruto. "That Mori brat keeps causing trouble... if he keeps this up, he'll get his team expelled from the exams... shame, too, cause his teammates are actually pretty nice... and the Kemuri punk isn't too much different, though he doesn't actively seek trouble. I swear, kids these days..."

Naruto laughed at that last comment. "Hey, hey, you're starting to sound like an old man! 'Kids these days...' you need to lighten up!"

Kankuro cracked a smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But these Chunin exams are such a hassle for anyone involved with them."

Naruto nodded, having heard about it from Shikamaru back in Konoha, and Gaara when he had arrived. "So, who were those kids?"

Kankuro gave him a glare. "I'm not telling you anything that would give you an unfair advantage over them, if that's what you want. The blondie was Kokiri Mido, from Morigakure, and the gray kid was Kemurino Kaijin, from Kemurigakure. From their personalities, I'd guess that they come from some important families or something, seeing how they've got the arrogant pride bit down."

Naruto's head bobbed momentarily in acknowledgment, and looked to Sheik, who had been leaning against a pillar. "You spot anybody else interesting?"

Sheik didn't move, but his eye opened, acknowledging Naruto. "I saw two shinobi that looked to be on Mido's team; one male, one female. They all wear similar clothes, and are of the same age. Also, I did not see anyone else from Kemurigakure, nor anybody else from the other villages. I guess we're just early."

Naruto nodded again, and then his stomach rumbled loudly. "Well, if you're done with your observations, I say we go get some ramen!"

Kankuro shook his head. "Sorry to break it to ya, but Suna doesn't have any ramen stands."

---

Gaara flinched when he had heard that pained scream; he would've investigated it, but not only did it sound like Naruto, whom Gaara knew could take care of himself, but that momentary lapse in Gaara's concentration had caused him to splotch the ink, causing him to have to start over with the forms he was filling out. Gaara sighed, and pulled another form from the mile-high stack on his desk.

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**Kasek: **There, five pages' worth, finished in the wee hours of the morning! I hope that whoever's reading this likes this story!

I added the OCs (Kaijin and his two unmentioned teammates) because I mostly just need people to fill up the ranks, and also because I've had the idea of a Kemuri Genin team stuck in my head forever. I'm sure that EVERYONE who's reading this fic (and has played OoT) will know who Mido's teammates are. Speaking of which, who did you guys think I was talking about when I described Mido? And I have absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever, so could what Mido wears be considered a tank-top, or is it something else?

I apologize if anyone is offended by the personalities I have given Hanabi and Sheik (Sheik in particularly), but that's just the way I see them being. If you want me to explain, PM me or say something about in in your reviews. As for Gaara's eyes... come on! Gaara just wouldn't be the same without the dark rings under his eyes!

Well, review, review, review, and all that jazz. I'm going to get some much needed sleep right now. Good night!


	3. First Exam: The Troubles Begin!

**Kasek: **I don't really have anything to say right now, so I'll just go straight to the story.

**Disclaimer:** I own neither the manga/anime/video game series 'Naruto', nor the video game/manga/comic/cartoon series 'Legend of Zelda', nor any of the affiliated characters.

* * *

**Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant**

**Chapter 3: First Exam: The Troubles Begin!**

It had been a little more than a week since they had arrived at Sunagakure, and Naruto was depressed. And I mean REALLY depressed. He had finally finished searching Sunagakure from top to bottom, looking everywhere he was allowed to go, and even some places he wasn't, and he hadn't found a trace of a single ramen stand having EVER been established in Sunagakure. Sure, the general store sold some instant ramen, but 'Cactus Flavored Instant Ramen' just didn't cut it with Naruto.

Naruto took the time to think for a moment. A little more than a week... meaning the Chunin exams were going to start. Today, now that he thought about it. Good thing it was still early morning. He went over the past week in his head. Searched for ramen... searched for ramen... bugged Gaara... searched for ramen... saw several members of the competition... searched for ramen... wait, rewind! He had seen several members of the competition! What had they been like? Uh... darn it, the images were already gone from his head. Oh, well... he'd beat them all, anyways, so it didn't matter too much.

---

The two teams of Konoha looked at the rather plain looking building that passed as Sunagakure's Academy. When they had entered, they saw a few other Genin walking into another room, so they decided that that was where they were supposed to go. Upon entering, all but Naruto couldn't help but gasp at the sheer number of Genin that were in the room. Most of the older participants threw murderous glares at the younger newcomers, as if saying, "How dare they even think that they can become Chunin at that age?" Younger participants were either throwing similar yet less terrifying glares at them, or were withering under such glares themselves. Naruto just shrugged it off and walked towards the last unoccupied corner of the room, Sheik and Hanabi wisely following, and after a minute, the Konohamaru Corps. came over as well. Konohamaru started talking to Naruto.

"Hey, boss,some of these guys look pretty freaky," He motioned towards some of the aptly described participants, "Did you have to deal with anybody like that last time?"

Naruto chuckled. "Boy, did I. Of course, I don't think these guys can compare to most of the freaks I've met before on missions, so I wouldn't worry too much. But, Konohamaru..."

Konohamaru looked up at Naruto, surprised to see the look of seriousness on his face. "Yeah, boss?"

"Just remember, as soon as this exam starts, I am your enemy as well. Don't ever forget that, okay?" Konohamaru nodded, and was about to turn back to watching the crowd when Naruto resumed talking. "Hey, Konohamaru, about how well do you know my skills?"

Konohamaru was a little surprised at the question, but answered anyways. "Uh, let's see... I know you can do the Oiroke no Jutsu and the Haremu no Jutsu, but that's about it... why do you ask?"

Naruto bonked him on the head. "Didn't I just tell you to not forget we're enemies now? And here you are, giving away information like that. Now I now just how much about me you know, so I can use different techniques to catch you off guard."

Konohamaru lowered his head in shame. "Sorry, boss..."

Naruto chuckled. "Don't worry about it, not that I'd actually use those techniques in battle anyways."

Hanabi looked up at Naruto in astonishment. "You know those abominable techniques?"

Naruto caught the hatred in her eyes, but before Naruto could say anything, Konohamaru spoke back up. "Yep, he's the guy who created them!" Hanabi's eyes narrowed, and Naruto could've sworn that the Byakugan was beginning to activate.

"Uzumaki, I've lost all respect for you."

After Naruto hung his head in shame (not in the shame of knowing those techniques, but of losing his teammate's respect), he went straight into looking at the crowd, since he hadn't really bothered to observe them at all during the past week like he should have. He noticed that the Mori kids had camped out their own corner, and that, true to Sheik's word, Mido's two teammates dressed like him; they all had an obsession with green. The girl stuck out more than her two teammates- green hair will do that to you. She had a green tank-top over top of a dark green turtleneck and a pair of green shorts, a dark green hairband in her green hair, and her hitai-ate attached to the one non-green piece of cloth on her body, her black belt.

The other boy on the team- Naruto was fairly sure that the Genin was a boy, but that green skirt wasn't really helping things- looked almost exactly like Mido. Blond hair, blue eyes, green cap, green short-sleeved shirt, green boots, and a black belt with the Mori Hitai-ate attached as a belt buckle. He also had a some kind of sword and shield strapped onto his back.

Naruto looked around at some of the other participants. The only people who really stood out immediately to Naruto were these three tan-skinned, red-haired girls from Suna that looked like triplets, and some girl that could pass as Hoshigaki Kisame's daughter (which in and of itself creeped Naruto out) from Mizu. As Naruto looked around, he spotted the team from Kemuri. Naruto was very surprised at Kaijin's teammates; they looked to both be five years older than him! Naruto was curious; why would they place two fifteen-year-old Genin with a ten-year-old Genin? Naruto looked down at himself and came to his own conclusion; the boy had probably been a spare from the Academy graduation and had gotten placed onto their team. Not many other explanations you could go through, right?

He examined the male teammate. He was pretty tall, and he almost looked like a mummy; every part of his body that Naruto could see was covered in bandages except for his eyes and the top of his head, his long, brown hair (which kinda reminded Naruto a bit of Orochimaru's) sticking out. The skin looked kinda... burnt. He wore the same grey vest and black pants that Kaijin wore, but his vest was unzipped, revealing more bandages. Although he looked like a tough guy, his eyes kinda looked soft and gentle.

The girl also wore the same gray vest and black pants, and also had the same gray hair and eyes that Kaijin had. The first thought that entered Naruto's head was, _she must be Kaijin's sister. _In fact, she looked a lot like he imagined an older Kaijin would probably look like- with some obvious differences, of course. Her hitai-ate was placed around her neck. Unlike her supposed brother, who's eyes practically leaked pride and arrogance, her eyes were more like the mummy's, full of kindness.

Just looking at the three of them, the little one leaning against the wall, surrounded by the two bigger ones, evoked an image of a crime boss and his flunkies in Naruto's head, even though the two older nins did not give the impression of such. As his eyes started to scan the room once more, the door burst open, and in walked... Temari? Following her were several random Suna shinobi. All of the occupants in the entire room immediately stopped what they were dong to watch her.

"Alright, Genin, line up and draw numbers from this box, and then go into the next room and sit at your assigned seats!" A random shinobi stepped up, said box in his hand, and all of the Genin lined up and started drawing numbers. As the line dwindled down, Konohamaru started whispering to Naruto.

"Hey, boss, what's this all about?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going to spoil anything for you guys. It wouldn't be fair to the other Genin who haven't taken these exams yet, either. Besides, the only people you can rely on from hereon in are you, yourself, and your team."

Konohamaru nodded his head in understanding, although he sweatdropped at the fact that Naruto had told him to trust only himself twice. Soon enough, all of the numbers were drawn, and everyone had taken their seats; Sheik and Hanabi had both scored seats in the far back, while Naruto was somewhere in the middle, with Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi sitting in the middle, front, and back, respectively.Temari walked to the front, while the other shinobi started handing out papers.

"Alright, weaklings, listen up!" There were several glares from said "weaklings", but she didn't let it bother her one bit. "This is a written exam, if you haven't gathered that by now. You have 1 hour to answer 10 questions, and before you say anything," shooting a glare at some poor newbie who had started to raise their hand, "yes, there are supposed to only be 9 questions on your sheet. I'll give the tenth question at the 45-minute mark. Each question is worth 1 point, with a maximum of 10, and if you're caught cheating, you will lose 2 points, which accumulates every time you're caught. You must have at least 1 point by the end of the exam; if you don't, your entire team fails. Begin!"

Pencils were brought out, and the first exam had begun. Naruto didn't have any problems, seeing as he had had Jiraiya teach him several different spying techniques over the years, not to mention that he could answer a few questions himself. However, his mind started drifting to his teammates; maybe he _should've _told _them _about this exam. Then again, Hanabi _was_ a Hyuuga, so she could use her Byakugan to scan the other papers. And Sheik... well, Naruto knew first-hand that the boy specialized in this kind of thing, having been victim of endless hours of "I Spy" games. His focus returning, he noticed that Udon, who was a few rows ahead of him, seemed to already have half of the questions. He would've smirked, if he didn't already know that the examiners would probably take off points for that.

Naruto wasn't too far off about his teammates. Hanabi was leaning forward, having figured out the meaning to the test immediately, her face facing down towards the paper, letting her hair shade her eyes from all angles. She was- surprise, surprise- using her Byakugan to get the answers off of some poor chap who wasn't guarding his answers, while her hair prevented anyone from getting a good look at hers.

Sheik was more than just using his "I Spy" skills, though; if one were to look him right in the face, they would've noticed that the very same mark on his chest had appeared in his eye- three black 'eyelashes' above his pupil, and one black 'tear' mark below it. Also, a small red dot appeared in the middle of his pupil, giving the appearance that it was another eye. He kept his face pointed as far down as he could while still being able to see the room, and started scanning the place for somebody to copy. Spotting somebody who looked to be hard at work, he immediately started writing what they were writing, as if he could see right through them... which he probably could.

Konohamaru, who was sitting a few seats down the row form Naruto, was having a bit of a mental breakdown. _Alright, let's see, I have to answer at least one of these questions correctly, or else Udon and Moegi won't be able to become Chunin, and then I won't be able to become Hokage! But they're all so hard! And I bet that the last question is even harder, just to crush those who stuck around in hopes of getting it right. But if we get caught cheating, we lose points! Agh... _And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. _Wait, **if** we get caught cheating? If you put it that way, then that means that if you're able to get all nine questions, but get caught four times, you pass! But, if you don't get enough answers to out weigh getting caught, you still flunk! And I bet that those examiners are no slouches, either... _With his mind made up, Konohamaru decided to try to cheat off of the guy right next to him, who seemed to have all of the answers already. _Well, that's a relief, at least I don't have to really work for it. Now, as long as they don't see me, I'll be fine..._

A random Genin boy stood up, the stress of the whole thing evident on his face. "Just how do you expect us to answer these questions?!?"

Temari snorted. "With your pencils, of course. Unless you want to write the answers in blood... I'm sure that can be arranged..." As she said this, she drew out a kunai, toying with it. "Now, if you don't want to fail, I suggest you get back to work. Oh, wait, never mind; that last stunt you pulled just cost you you last chance. You and your teammates are outta here."

The Genin looked stunned. "Hey, you can't just-" Before he could say anything else, Temari was standing behind him (on his seat), kunai at his throat. "I _said_ you failed. You were looking at another examinee's paper during your little outburst. Clever, but not clever enough. That's five strokes against you. Unless I miscounted...?" A random Chunin shook their head. "Didn't think so." Temari removed her kunai, leaving the shocked Genin to numbly walk out the door, his two teammates following him out the door, none too pleased with him.

As time passed, more and more teams were kicked out, leaving the room half-empty. Eventually, the 45-minute mark came to pass, and Temari started her next 'speech' (if you could call them that, though Naruto thought her speeches didn't have anything on Ibiki's). "Alright, time for the last question! Before I give it out, let me explain some things. First off, you have a choice in whether or not you can take this last question." Some quiet murmurs started going through the crowd. "Hey, hey! Let me finish! As I was saying, you can either choose to take this question. If you choose to stay here, you're score will be compared to those of your teammates, and whoever has the highest score will continue on in the exams, while the other two will be kicked out and unable to ever achieve Chunin status. However, if you answer the question incorrectly, all three of you will be kicked out of these exams permanently." There were several outbursts from the Chunin hopefuls. A tic mark appeared on Temari's head before she took the fan off her back and slammed it into the floor, silencing everybody, not to mention scaring the younger ones half to death. "Like I said, that's if you choose to take this question. However, you may also choose to _not _take the question. If you do so, all three of you fail, but you will be able to come again in six months."

As some people got up, and other people looked indecisive, Naruto was about ready to burst. How _dare_ they do something like this?!? Forcing people to sacrifice their teammates just so they could go on! Just as Naruto was about to cry out in anger, somebody beat him to it. Naruto heard a fist slam into a desk, and looked behind him to see that Kaijin had stood up, and there was rage in his eyes. "You expect me to just sacrifice my teammates for my own benefit?!? We didn't work all this time as a team just so you could separate us! We don't need people like you telling us whether or not we're worthy to become Chunin! Nukumi, Kokuen, we're leaving!" He then walked right out the door, his two teammates/flunkies following right behind him. Naruto was rather surprised; he didn't think he was the type to care about others. Hanabi also got up.

"He has a valid point. We were raised together, trained together, worked with each other, protected each other, and you expect us to throw it all away just like that?" Before Temari or Naruto could say anything, Sheik also got up.

"We were always taught to look out for the team's safety over our own; staying here would go against all we were ever taught, all we ever believed in." Naruto finally got up.

"My thoughts exactly. See ya around." As Team Impa (That's what I'm calling them) left, Konohamaru quickly looked at his teammates, who looked like they wanted to quit also. He got out of his chair.

"Nothing's worth losing the respect of my friends. Not the promise of becoming a Chunin, a Jonin, heck, not even the title of Hokage is worth this! Come on guys, let's go!" And as the Konohamaru Corps. left the room, all of the teams started whispering amongst themselves. Soon, several teams that had been indecisive before had pulled out, and very few teams were actually left inside the room.

---

As Naruto walked down the hall, he met up with Kankuro, who was waiting in the hall. A smile crept up Kankuro's face.

"Hey, how'd the exam go? You guys passed, right?"

Naruto looked mad. "No! We pulled out when it got time to answer the tenth question. It was either fail now and come back later, or sacrifice our teammates just to get to the next part of the exam!"

An all-knowing smile made it up onto Kankuro's lips. "The team above the mission, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but if you'll excuse us, we should go back to our hotel rooms and pack our stuff."

The smile didn't leave Kankuro's face. "Hey, hey, come on, maybe you should wait a bit. After all, don't you want to see who passed?"

Naruto looked down. "Well... I guess it couldn't hurt. Plus, I could glare at them for sacrificing their teammates." Kankuro just smirked, and they waited for another few minutes before they saw some of the teams that had dropped out earlier come back. Naruto was thoroughly confused. "Hey, wait , what's going on here?"

Kankuro just smirked some more. "You'll see." Just after he said that, the doors burst open, and several infuriated Genin walked out the door, looking like they were about to rip somebody's head off. As they walked out, Temari appeared in the doorway.

"Would everyone who chose not to take the tenth question come in here real quick?" Now thoroughly confused, Naruto walked back into the classroom and took a seat with his two teammates. He spoke up.

"Hey, hey, what's this all about? Didn't we already pull out of these exams?" Temari just sighed.

"You're as clueless as ever, Naruto... the choice of whether or not to take the tenth question was the deciding factor on whether or not you passed this exam. For those of you who need it spelled out to you, staying in here wasn't exactly the best choice those guys ever made."

"W-wait... you mean..."

Temari smirked. "Yep. You all have just passed the first exam."

* * *

**Kasek:** And this is where I stop things just for dramatic effect. 

Boy, it took me a week to write this! I think... how long has it been since updated? Granted, I only spent an hour or two a day, and I had writer's block, but still... six pages' worth of story is a lot for me to stuff into a single chapter, although I know that people stuff a lot more than that into it. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. And for those of you who are curious, I'll be trying to get my next "Why Ninjas DON'T Have Internet" chapter out by Feb 2nd.

Next chapter: As the second Chunin exam begins in the aptly named Canyon of Death, the participants not only face danger in the form of other teams, but also in the form of two mysterious foes who've decided to mess with the exams. Will Team Impa and the Konohamaru Corps. be able to make it through this alive?

R&R!

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End of Chapter 3 Bonus: Traveling 

As two ninja garbed in black and red cloaks and straw hats leapt from branch to branch, they were holding a conversation. The smaller one turned to his partner.

"Remind me again why we're visiting Sunagakure, a place where Akatsuki has already searched for Biju, and therefore a place where we'll be instantly recognized and attacked?"

The taller one shook his head. "You act like you have no faith in being able to find a Jinchuuriki there. The Chunin exams are taking place there right now, and if we hurry, we'll be able to reach the second exam."

"And just what is so special about this particular exam?"

The taller one sweatdropped (how you could see it through the hat, I'll never know). "I forgot your old village only recently entered the Shinobi Alliance. This exam will take place in the Canyon of Death."

If his eyebrows had been visible, the short one would've raised them. "And that's special because...?"

The taller one sighed. "I lived in Suna for almost all of my life. Before I had left, I was the examiner for the second exam. Meaning, I know how to get in there undetected. Once there, we can search for any Jinchuuriki that might be there. You never know what you can find in a place you've already looked. Besides, even if there isn't a Biju there, it might be fun just to mess with some of the Chunin hopefuls."

The shorter one tilted his head downwards, as if thinking about it. "...Fine. I guess we don't have anything better to do." And so, they continued towards Suna...

* * *

**Kasek:** Yeah, uh, for those of you who actually know who the short guy is, could you please point me in the direction of a fic that features him prominently, and in-character? I don't actually own the Zelda game he appears in as an actual character, so... yeah. I'd appreciate it. 


	4. Exam Interlude: Enter Nabooru!

**Kasek: **Well, I'm at a loss on how to do the next chapter of Kitsu Kitsu no Mi… so I'll do this, instead. Okay, just to let you know; I edited Kokuen's description (he is now so much cooler, in my opinion), as I came up with something for him that required him to look a bit… different. It wouldn't hurt for previous readers to get a recap of the three Ocs I've inserted into this story. Also, I FINALLY came up with a good way to put Naruto's necklace into the story. I know it's not a pendant, but… pendant sounded cooler when I was making it. Well, recap: Temari just announced that a bunch of people just passed the first exam. Alright, disclaimer!

Disc: I do not own Naruto… or Zelda. I own games from both franchises, though. Bleh!

Special note: This chapter is dedicated to bmp112, who reminded me that I have an author's soul. Translation: bmp112 got me off of my tushie and made me write this.

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**Legend of Naruto: Hokage's Pendant Chapter 4: Exam Interlude: Enter Nabooru!  
**

"We- we passed?"

Temari sighed. "Baka! How many times do I have to tell you?!? Do I have to drive it into your head with my fan?!?"

Naruto gulped at the sight of the monstrosity she called a fan. "N-no, that's quite alright…"

Kaijin spoke up. "If we passed the first exam, when and where do we take the second?"

Temari smirked. "Eager lttle brat, aren't you? Well then, I guess I'll tell you. The second exam will be…"

"HOLD IT!!! HOLD EVERYTHING!!!"

You could almost see question marks appearing over people's heads as they looked around for the source of the voice. They were very much surprised when a spot on the floor at the front of the room exploded, sending pieces of the floor everywhere. When the smoke cleared, everyone saw a red-skinned, red-haired, scantily clad woman standing in front of Temari. Naruto thought she looked kinda like one of those dancers at a Wind Country hotel that he and Jiraiya had stopped at. "Temari, I thought I told you that _**I**_ would be explaining this exam."

Temari snorted. "Must've slipped my mind."

Three voices- which all sounded _exactly_ the same- came from the back of the classroom. "Hey, sensei! We passed the first exam!" Naruto looked towards the back, and saw that it was the triplets. Looking between them and their sensei, he would've mistaken them for mother and daughters.

"Kousa! Oashisu! Yashiko! I TOLD you beforehand! While you're taking these exams, I cannot act as your sensei! Now don't call me that again! Clear?"

You could see them shake with fear. "Y-yes, Nabooru-san…"

Nabooru sighed. "Where was I… oh, yes! The next exam! I am Gerudo Nabooru, the proctor of the second exam here in Sunagakure no Sato. The next exam will be a bit of a… survival exercise, if you will."

Naruto almost groaned. He was hoping he wouldn't have to do something like this. _So what's it going to be? The Desert of Desolation? The Desert of Doom?_

"This exam will take place on one of our training grounds. The locals like to call it… the Canyon of _Death_." While Naruto sweatdropped, a chill went throughout the crowd of majority first-timers. "If you brats will follow me, I'll bring you there myself." As the crowd of Chunin hopefuls followed Nabooru out the door, Naruto walked up to Temari.

"Hey, Temari-san, do all of the Chunin exams have an 'of Death' place?"

Temari shook her head. "No, only Suna and Konoha have such places…" While Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, she continued talking. "I remember that Iwagakure has some kind of Mountain of Doom… and I think that Mizugakure has a Marsh of Desolation…" Naruto sweatdropped. "Well, anyways, you better get going. I don't think that this will be as bad as the Forest of Death, though, so you shouldn't have to worry. Then again, you do have some rather… young teammates." Speaking of, those very two teammates had just walked up to Naruto and began dragging him off. Hanabi frowned.

"Come on, Naruto, we don't want to get left behind." Naruto gave Temari an apologetic glance as he was dragged out the door. Temari shook her head. "The same baka you were when we first met… not that Gaara would have it any other way."

* * *

Team Impa arrived just as Nabooru started explaining the exam. Naruto looked up- there were two huge cliffs to either side, a small pass in between them. "Alright, here's the gist of it. Each team gets one scroll- either a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll. Your objective is to get the other one that you don't have and bring both scrolls to the building in the middle of the labyrinth. After you sign these liability forms…." She motioned to said forms being held by her assistants, "…and receive your scroll, you'll be escorted to a set point in the labyrinth." She took out a map of the canyon. Naruto thought it looked suspiciously like the map of the FOD. "After you go through this entrance here, the path forms a ring around the labyrinth. You'll be taken to your respective entrances, and then left to fend for yourselves for three days. If you make to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit, you pass. If a team member becomes incapacitated, or you do not make it to the tower with both scrolls in the time limit, you fail. If you peek inside of a scroll, you fail. If you die… you die. Can't really do anything about that. Any questions?" 

Naruto spoke up. "How come we only have _three _days? Why not, say…. Five?"

Nabooru snorted. "What, leave you out here in the desert heat with no food or water for several days? We may be mean, but we're not heartless. This isn't Konoha; you don't have any wild beasts out for your blood here. Your only enemies out here are the sun, the clock, and the other teams. Three days is plenty. Anything else?"

Kaijin stepped forward. "So, then. Besides the rules you gave us, anything goes?"

Nabooru smirked. "Anything." Kaijin looked up at the sheer cliff walls as Nabooru resumed talking. "I don't feel like taking anymore questions, so just sign the forms and stuff so we can get started. I wanna hear some screams already." With that last statement, several people who were just about to sign the forms changed their minds.

Naruto immediately signed his form, and noticed the Mori team seemed to be arguing about something. "Come on, Mido! It's perfect! We just head torwards the tower and wait there for somebody else to come by! I even took a picture of the map when she wasn't looking!"

Mido snorted. "Come on, Link, we'd have a much better chance if we went up top. That way, we'd be able to go from section to section and ambush whoever we want!"

The girl shook her head. "I doubt that you're the only person who's thought of that, Mido. If we go up there, we'll be completely exposed. We wouldn't stand a chance against some of these guys. We need to think strategically. If we've got a map, then we should use it to find the best ambush spot and go for it."

"What an awesome plan, Saria! Glad I thought of it!" As Mido looked awfully proud of himself, Link, Saria, and Naruto all sweatdropped. Naruto sighed. _That guy is more of an idiot than I am! Wait, that didn't come out right…_ As he was thinking, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, and accidentally bumped into somebody.

"HEY! Watch where you're going, punk! I oughta… wait a minute… hey, boys, look who we've got here. Looks like it's our lucky day…"

Naruto only had one thing to say: "Uh, do I _know_ you?"

* * *

**Kasek: **I'm just going to stop it right there. Yes, a cliffhanger, but at least I managed to make it both dramatic and funny at the same time… I think. And yes, I know it's not nearly up to the length standards I normally set for myself, but I really wanted to get this chapter out as soon as I could, and that seemed like a good place to stop... 

Who did Naruto bump into? How do they know him? Why am I asking these questions? The answer to these (except that last one) and more reside in the next chapter.

It'll be exciting from hereon in. I've got the entire story completely planned out now, just need to write it. Hehehe… well, send in your reviews, please! I need criticism, or else I won't change the way I write! Which might not be a bad thing...


	5. Second Exam: Canyon of Death!

**Kasek: **Uh, hiya. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Yes, no witty comments. No, I am not Kasek's alien clone sent here to replace him while my masters torture him to death.

**Disc.:** I do not own Naruto, Zelda, or anything associated with the two.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Second Exam: Canyon of Death!**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'DO I KNOW YOU?'?!? YOU'VE HUMILIATED US TWICE BEFORE, AND YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER?!?"

Naruto looked at the three white-jumpsuit, rebreather-thing-wearing Ame shinobi in front of him, each one with a slightly different face- one with both eyes covered, one with one eye covered, and one with brown Kakashi-hair and with both eyes visible. "Well, SooorrrRY! I can't remember every ninja I pummel!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!?" The three shinobi started ranting and raving- not noticing that Naruto had already left.

The one who had both of his eyes uncovered looked around. "Where did that brat go? Whatever… this is certainly his _un_lucky day…"

* * *

Naruto quickly caught up with his teammates. "So, you guys both ready to go forward?" 

Sheik lowered his head. "Well, I don't know about this…"

Naruto paled. "PLEASE tell me that you signed the forms."  
Sheik 'eye-smiled'. "Of course I did! I'm just not sure we can make it through this, that's all!"

Naruto smiled. "Come on, you've got me! Plus, you two are no slouches yourselves! I think you're even better than when my team went through these!"

Hanabi snorted. "Like that's a comfort. You're barely any good _now_."  
"I resent that! I got all the way to the third exam, and beat Neji to a pulp, too!"

Hanabi looked like she was about to go into shock- the first real emotions she'd shown since she discovered that Naruto had invented the Oiroke no Jutsu. "T-that was you? …Fine. You've gained a _little_ respect back."

An examiner walked up to them. "Follow me." Team Impa didn't need to be told twice, so they quickly followed the examiner to their starting gate.

After the exam started, they were surprised at exactly how labyrinthine the 'Canyon of Death' really was. There were caves all over the place, which no doubt lead to other parts of the maze. There was something weird about the walls, too, because not even the Byakugan could see through them- Hanabi had tried. Sheik couldn't do anything about them either. After a while of just wandering about and finding no one, they were just about to give up when they heard a large explosion from up ahead. Hanabi almost fell over. "W-what was that?!?"

Naruto frowned. "Nothing good."

When they got to the corner, they backed up against the wall, and turned their heads around the corner to get a good view. Naruto was shocked at the sight of what was happening; Sheik and Hanabi were merely confused, as well as a little frightened.

The Mori team lay on the ground, obviously hurt, and two cloaked figures were standing in front of them. Their cloaks were black, with red clouds spaced out on them. The significantly shorter one stepped forward. "Is that all the latest generation of Mori shinobi has to offer? _Pathetic_."

Link got up and charged at him, only to get knocked back by an extremely strong gust of wind. Naruto was surprised; he didn't see the guy use any handsigns, and his (blue) hands were poking out from his sleeves, so Naruto would've noticed if he had done a jutsu. Was it simply elemental manipulation? If so, Naruto was _definitely_ going to learn how to do that.

"I see you have the Kokiri Sword. Guess that means you're the latest heir of the great Kokiri clan, huh?"

Link gritted his teeth. "How do you know so much about our village?"

The man chuckled. "How? Simple…" He took off his straw hat, revealing his blue hair and extremely long purple hat (Naruto wondered how he had managed to fit that under the straw one.). Naruto noticed that it seemed awfully similar to the ones Link and Mido were wearing; Naruto wasn't too surprised to see his headband sewed into his hat, the Mori symbol scratched out. "I used to be a part of it."

Mido started to get up. "Who… who ARE you?"

"What's the point in telling you something when I'm just going to kill you anyways?" He slowly approached the three, but just as he raised his hand, he had to pull it back before a senbon could pierce it. "I see we have company." Everyone present turned towards where the needle had come from… only to see that nobody was there. "Hmm…? Where did they go?"

* * *

The Konohamaru Corps. were starting to get pretty tired. They hadn't seen anyone in the few hours that they'd been exploring, and they were just dying to get a scroll and finish this exam as fast as possible. After another minute, they all sat down to catch their breath. Moegi looked beat. "Where is everybody? We should've run into SOMEBODY by now…" 

Udon nodded. "It's mathematically impossible for us to NOT have seen a trace of any other ninja. Where are they?"

Konohamaru looked up. "They couldn't have just disappeared… could they?" Just when he said that, a kunai landed in the middle of them. Looking up, they could hear the sounds of combat… barely. They all looked at each other, nodded, and ran all the way up the walls.

When they got to the top, they peeked over the edge. They wished that they hadn't; what they saw was their first taste of what it really meant to be a ninja. All over the place, the corpses of people they had seen earlier were lying all over the place. Even now, there were still two teams fighting: the triplets, all of whom were wielding some kind of and the Kemuri nin.

Nukumi stepped forward, her face bearing a blank expression. "If you want to live, you can either just hand over your Earth Scroll, or go away and let us scavenge around for one. There's bound to be one around here somewhere."

The red-clothed Suna-nin stepped forward. "Hey, now… that's my line."

The blue-one snorted. "Come on, Aveil, why don't we just get this over with? I'm itching for a fight."

Greenie chuckled. "There's no way you three can beat us. Our teamwork is perfect."

Kaijin sighed. "Even teamwork cannot defeat enemies that are greater than your entire team combined."

Aveil got _mad_. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT US?!?" She dashed towards the three Kemuri-nin, spear in hand. Nukumi sighed. "I've got these three."

Just as Aveil was about to pierce Nukumi with her spear, Nukumi calmly side-stepped the thrust, kicked it out of Aveil's hands, grabbed it, and hit Aveil in the back of the neck with the blunt end, knocking her out. She turned towards the other Suna-siblings. "Who's next?"

They both charged her at the same time, but just before they reached her, Oashisu (blue) jumped over her, while Yashiko (green) kept charging. Without even blinking, Nukumi thrust the blunt end of the spear upward into Oashisu's stomach, and then swung her at Yashiko, sending them both flying. As they got back up, Nukumi snorted. "If you want me to use the pointy end, just keep on coming." The two sisters looked at each other, nodded, and Yashiko stepped forwards. "Aveil's got the scroll on her. Take it and go!"

Kokuen sighed. "Could've saved yourselves a lot of trouble…" He walked over to her and opened her waist-bag. Removing the brown scroll from inside, he closed up the pack, picked her up, and heaved her towards her sisters. Konohamaru could only gawk at the distance she had been thrown. The two conscious sisters tried to catch Aveil, but all three of them fell to the ground. Kaijin snorted. "Get out of here, before we change our minds about sparing you." They nodded, and ran for it… but not before picking up a spare Heaven Scroll off one of the corpses.

Konohamaru started shaking. Those two were extremely strong… and it seemed like that Kaijin was their boss. He didn't even want to _think_ about how strong he could be. He could've sworn that Kaijin glanced at him, and then he turned back to his teammates. "Come on… these corpses are starting to annoy me."

Nukumi sighed. "The exams didn't start too long ago. Someone pretty strong must've been here recently. They took all of the scrolls, too. Doesn't exactly look like Genin-level handiwork. Think there's an intruder?"

Kokuen snorted. "Probably. Should we go after them, or just get this stupid exercise done with?"

Kaijin closed his eyes. "I don't particularly feel like going after these guys, but I don't like the fact that they're interfering with these people's hopes and dreams. I say we go for it." With that, the three of them disappeared.

Konohamaru turned to his own teammates. "Wait, so they didn't kill any of these guys?"

Udon sniffed. "Looks like it."

Moegi looked worried. "What do we do from here?"

Konohamaru took another peek at the corpses. "…doesn't look like they have any scrolls on them. Those triplets have a Heaven scroll on them now; I say we go after them."

Udon nodded in agreement. "That'd be the logical thing to do…(sniff) Their boss is unconscious and disarmed, and their mental stability can't be too solid at the moment. With a well-planned, coordinated effort, we could probably take them out and get their scroll within a minute or two."

Moegi smiled. "I like the sound of that. Can we get down from here, now? My legs are killing me…"

Konohamaru looked down. It was a _looooong_ way down. "I say we travel up top; it might make it easier to hunt down those girls."

Udon agreed. "Plus, it'll be easier on our chakra reserves than climbing all the way back down…(Sniff)"

Konohamaru pumped his fist in the air. "All right! Operation: Steal the Scroll from the Triplets is under way!"

Moegi and Udon sweatdropped. "Uh, Konohamaru, can't you come up with a better mission name?"

Konohamaru almost fell off the cliff. "Why?!? What's wrong with it, Moegi?"  
Moegi coughed. "I don't know… it just seems kinda long-winded. I like Operation: Triple Threat better."

Udon sniffed. "I concur with Moegi."

Konohamaru 'hmph'd. "Fine, have it your way. Operation: Triple Threat is under way!"

* * *

**Kasek: **I'm gonna end it here…. Tell me if I got the colors right on Wind-guy (yes, even now I don't speak his name… weird, huh?) and Aveil. I don't remember what she wore. Hehe… 

4 pages… well, review! Please? I need feedback here, peoples…

I seem to have lost my copy of Kitsu Kitsu no Mi 5. I'll have to redo it... not like I got far. Expect to see it out sometime soon... after I'm done reading Order of the Stick. Awesome comic. It gives me ideas.


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